


prompts, ideas, and headcanons

by runningon5hoursofsleepyay



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Idea dump, Kid Cassandra Cain, Kid Stephanie Brown, Kid Tim Drake, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug is a Wayne, kid duke thomas, why arent they tags omg imagine the wholesomeness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29468931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runningon5hoursofsleepyay/pseuds/runningon5hoursofsleepyay
Summary: i just need somewhere to dump my thoughts and my drafts will keep dying if i don't publish this so i hope y'all don't mind!!content warning!! there will be language, like shcist and frick in their uncensored forms.
Relationships: Batfamily Members & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain & Tim Drake & Duke Thomas
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	1. marinette dupain-cheng joins the batfam except they all have way too many secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> meanwhile marinette is questioning her entire existence

marinette dupain-cheng being adopted by bruce wayne but it's solely on the civilian side of things and B doesn't know who she is

  * imagine this though?? this teenage emancipated girl getting adopted by a billionaire just because she was a genuinely nice person and came from the city of ptsd, and it turns out they're both secret heroes but don't know about each other.
  * so hawkmoth is defeated by the time mari starts planning to leave. her relationship with her parents is a bit distant because they're often busy and now she's busy as well, and sometimes strained. her classmates are either crappy people or have unhealthy relationships with her. it doesn't seem like an ideal place to stay in.
  * and she's still ladybug. one would expect her to hang up the mask once hawkmoth's gone, but she's the guardian and still has duties and obligations. adrien gives back the ring, hawkmoth being his dad and all, so it seems pretty ok to leave.
  * (she has the money from babysitting, commissions, and a few collabs that ended up being mass produced. jagged stone is nice that way.)
  * so she gets emancipated as a 16-year-old and moves to gotham. why gotham? because she's the guardian and frankly, the chaos in the city is alarming and overwhelming. it may be dangerous, but usually just for people who go *looking* for danger and/or just don't know how to take care of themselves.
  * a post goes up on MDC's account saying that she's moving to gotham when she arrives, so that she has more time to get situated. she does get situated, and guess what!! it's the cliché plotline that i like.
  * wayne gala!! the waynes don't pay much attention to designers except MDC once made a redesign of robin's outfit and absolutely tore into discowing, and the former served as inspiration while the latter made dick a living meme in the household once again. the fam thinks that MDC should go to the gala because some of them would like to personally hear them tear into discowing, because they do good charity work and sounds relatively sincere about it, and because they're actually sort of a cryptid.
  * so they meet her in person and...wow. she's surprisingly young, and has the wayne features, and looks adorable, and comes from paris which is basically the city of emotional trauma--
  * (in this universe, hal jordan didn't brush them off because honestly i hate that guy but know way too little about him at the same time. instead, wonder woman once offered the league's services but was politely declined; the risk of a hero getting akumatized was too dangerous.)
  * by the time bruce gets to talk to her, all of his kids have made bets about when, how, and why he'll adopt her. nobody bets on him not doing it.
  * they exchange business cards, and a week and a few emails later, marinette is sitting in tim drake-wayne's office and politely confused because everyone who's looked at her so far look either surprised or amused and some comment on 'another one'. when she mentions this to tim, he just laughs and says it's a gotham meme.
  * by the end of the month, they have a deal struck up, and tim and mari both have a weird relationship that's sort of like how students call teachers by an honorific and last name when they're at school, but go by first names when they aren't. in the office they're strictly professional, but when they're chilling in a coffee shop before or after work hours, they're cool with each other.
  * now bruce is trying. really, he is, but mari gets tim to take a break when even cass can't, curbs jason and damian's thirsts for blood when shit hits the fan every so often, and helps duke with his homework when everyone is too busy. they commission her at some point, and sort of get closer with her. office marinette is professional, precise, and kind; MDC is observant, sharp, and a bit dry; fashion designer marinette is a hot anxious and stressed mess; and babysitter marinette is just DoneTM with everything and still really sweet.
  * the breaking point is, however, when it's revealed that her parents went from 80% supportive of her career to 50% when she moved to gotham to 20% when she struck a deal with bruce wayne.
  * it's fine, she says, and her parents just don't quite understand business and the many layers of it, but everyone (and i mean everyone: even the non-waynes) calls bullshit. and this turn of events is the Ultimate Red Flag for everyone.
  * another month later, marinette dupain-cheng-wayne makes international headlines.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> should i explore more on this AU?? i probably actually will, but if i decide to actually write a full-out multichapter fic for this (right now i'm only capable of doing oneshots), even coming up with the plot could take me over a month and most likely will.
> 
> also:  
> nobody:  
> me, having a meltdown as i edit this: *gross sobbing* i missed an 'o' in 'too' and typed 'to'. i have reached the point of no return


	2. kid!cass, tim, steph, and duke as a best friend squad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (i’m so sorry the title has a she-ra reference)  
> anyway, what it says! um. we need more kiddie batfam thingamajigs, i mean. the wholesome potential. the characterization would be a bit tricky because their tiny personalities would differ from their angsty teenager ones, but it would be so funnn  
> also thanks for your support in the last chapter?? positive reactions give me happy chemicals so ✨💖✨

okay so kid!batfam friend group ideas

  * first, tim & steph. they're more likely to be the original foundation, because of their generally close relationship in canon and shit. the advantage with tim is that he pretty much goes all around gotham at night, and visits occasionally in the day. steph and duke could know each other or something, growing up in the slums of gotham, but idk
  * i absolutely love the idea of cass arriving in gotham as a child (which means earlier) and running into one of the kids. it also means it's a bit unoriginal, but to be honest that's only if she starts with tim. if she’s put with steph, she would have to stay hidden (no problem) from cluemaster and probably steph's mom, but i feel like they'd be a chaotic and dynamic duo. if we put her with duke, keep in mind that he still had his parents back then so maybe they'd know? they (minus gnomon, who is completely absent) aren't villains or anything, and duke loves them and cass should be able to see their bodies, so possible tentative trust? might take a while because they're farther from her age, but still.
  * oh boy whAT IF SHE BOUNCES AROUND THEM
  * like she doesn't stay idle for long. she bounces from one place to another, checking in on steph when her dad is out busy and staying with duke completely without notice.
  * also, steph has a villain for a dad so she's pretty accustomed to the craziness of existing in gotham, but duke still has a pretty normal life, despite being a (undiscovered) meta. imagine him finding the living embodiment of a shadow on his fire escape who happens to be a mute kid around his age. he'd be kinda freaked out, but he also thinks that cass is the most badass person in existence.
  * anyway the 4 of them look out for each other and are who i'm projecting my strong belief of 'people can have meaningful, healthy, and wholesome relationships with each other that are platonic'.
  * i don't actually have any plot outlines for this, because this is more like a series of oneshots/multishots thing, so. it's still not bad i guess? this concept could really have a lot more explanation and exploration, but for now i'll just leave it as it is.



-

starting ages

duke - 8  
tim - 9  
steph - 9  
cass - 10

-

relationship dynamics

tim & steph - they start out as friends, with the classic bickering dynamic. when they get older they try out the dating thing for a while, but ultimately stay friends, as they work better that way.

duke & cass - they have a sibling-like relationship, with cass as the badass older sister and duke as the strong-willed lil brother.

steph & cass - they start out a little tentative friendship, with both sides being curious about each other. cass has her first crush on steph, but they never date and have a sisterly relationship. steph teaches cass memes and swears, and cass teaches her how to properly defend herself.

duke & tim - they're kids, so they're a little closer than they would be if they were teenagers/young adults. duke finds tim interesting and really smart, and tim finds duke interesting as well. they have a quiet sort of kinship, but in reality i just have no idea how to write their relationship haha... anyway when duke's powers emerge, tim works extremely hard to help him with it by collecting whatever data he can, despite his limited resources.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there’s a super cool series that this was sort of inspired after. it’s called The It, The Girl, The Shadow, and is amazing so go check it out haha :)  
> https://archiveofourown.org/series/1297841
> 
> ALSO, on a sort of unrelated note: i just finished watching she-ra (it's totally amazing and has given me a supply of serotonin enough to last me throughout a full week) and i kinda wanna try getting a better grasp of the characters and their personality. translation: anyone have any prompts???,?, also fanfic recs will give me even more happy chemicals  
> (i know i'm talking stupid right now but c a t r a d o r a )


End file.
